Memory going- old school drag classes

[oldbee]

Per the picture, especially at Doug @dvw ; I know you’re faster than B/Gas in the day. Does anyone remember the difference between the gas classes & than NSS today?
Just a little off the normal. I’m assuming Arlen had a Hemi.

 

[kiwigtx]

Not sure about the conversion from old to new classes ....but I know cars have gotten a lot faster these days.

 

[oldbee]

Not sure about the conversion from old to new classes ....but I know cars have gotten a lot faster these days.

Yeah, we’re talking 30-40yrs… BUT, I can’t remember!!!

 

[Budnicks]

I'm sort of foggy on the exact pounds (#'s)

started about 1973-ish Comp Eliminator Classes like 200 of them

A/G lighter weight per cid, like 6#s per/cid, non supercharged Gas class
A/Gas

B/Gas
B/G a lil' heavier weight per/cid something like 6.6#s per/cid,
with a 426 it'd be 2810# car, very few Hemi cars back then were less than 3000#s
(even the acid dipped bodied cars, weren't really light)

C/Gas
C/G was a lil' heavier per/cid, like 7.5#s per/cid
etc. etc. etc.

1977
AA/Gas is/was a Blown Gas, any tire any gear 'open car'
limited cid/limited blower size 6.71:1 & overdrive to 40%, on Gas
limited to pump size too, biggest pump was 180a pump, most people on Gas ran an 80a
(fuel pump driven off the cam or a belt, that 180a pump Enderle or Hilborn mech. FI pump
can support 500cid on alcohol, back in the day)
if it was Fuel Injected & still the same weight per/cid,
A/A - a altered or slowed down NHRA S/E 7.90 ET bracket

if it was carbureted it had a 0.01# per/cid weight break
NHRA Comp Eliminator classes circa 1978 (?)

Late 60s & early 70's it was called Modified Production
MP/-- prior, the rules were far different prior to 1973-ish (75 ?)

before then the A/- alcohol or AA/- designation blown, was fuel or blown Gas
the letter behind that was weight designation,
AA/A was like a fuel dragster
B/- was injected alcohol
BB/- was injected fuel, or blown alcohol
after the / the letter designated weight or fuel type, gas, methanol/alcohol or nitro
all of them type designations went away, when it became Comp Eliminator
like 1973-74-ish IIRC, I wasn't class 'NHRA' racing yet, just wed. & fri. nights stuff
not until 1977, just before I turned 18 in July

my 23 T 6.71:1 Blown/gas 301cid (alum. SBC based Donovan) altered (former BB F/C chassis)
was AA/Gas (AA/G) 6.01#s per/cid
it was min. of 1806#s with the ballast added, with a 301cid engine, ready to race
you ran on a national index fasted car of the weight class/style of car, flat out w/no breakouts
couldn't go too fast you'd change the index & get torn down, on the edge performance stuff

Camaro in the back ground was S/G 9.90 class (super-gas) in 1977

Below
later S/C 8.90 (Super Comp) then T/S (Top Sportsman) or S/E 7.90 class (Super Eliminator) 1980-ish
the pass below was at Sacramento raceway, 1st pass in the 8.98 range, all Iron 468 LS7 Mark IV BBC

circa 1982-ish my 49 Ford was B/G 499cid at 3294#s w/driver then,
I'm 6'-1"-2" 250-ish (shrinking) have been for decades,
a lil' lighter back then more like 235#s, 259#s with fire-suit, helmet
head sock & Nomex under where, w/fireproof boots SFI 20-3 layer suit
(B/Gas or I ran it also in 'Pro-Gas 8.50' too) prior they didn't care about driver weight

FI on Gas, latter alcohol, then blown methanol inj. 526cid Milodon Hemi

A/A 6.90 @ about 190 or slow it sown for 7.90 S/E

 

[oldbee]

@Budnicks , that’s bringing back some memory cells, thanks. Young members should love it.

 

[dvw]

Don't know the rules back then. But I did know Arlon very well. Good friend. He was a great guy. Raced against him in N/SS a bunch. I have been lucky to have been mentored by many smart racers from the past that became freinds. A ton of knowledge to soak up. Those who taught me from back in the day? Dave Koffel, Lew and Ron Mancini, Jack Werst, Jerry Stein, Bob Book, Al Adam, Ted Spehar, Tony Depillo off the top of my head. What a great number of influencers. Plenty of younger guys through the years as well.
Doug

 

[Budnicks]

NHRA Sportsman Super 'ET' Classes, were 'breakout classes', brackets you can't go too fast
10.90 - S/ST super Street
9.90 - S/G super Gas
8.90 - S/C super Comp.
7.90 - S/E super Eliminator

I ran all of them at one time or other, 0.4 tenths pro-tree
very competitive

 

[Budnicks]

My stepdad Bob was a S/S racer & Stock Eliminator after it changed
H/S 64 GTO 389cid ran in the low mid 12's with piecrust cheater slicks/4 speed
then a G/S 68 Firebird 400 Ram Air II 400, a F/S (?) 70 & a 71 GTO Judge Ram Air III/IV
all 4 speed/12 bolt cars, until about 1975-ish, ran a few here & there but not like he did prior
when my lil' sister came along & he turned them back to street cars, sold all but the 64
my mom drove that, then my oldest sister drove it to school
until we/Mom got the brand new 1968 Sport Satellite 383 4bbl 4 speed, with polished slots
& 3.91:1 gears & Uniroyal Polyglas 70s & 60s, dealer installed, was her 1st ever new car...

She could row the gears pretty well too...

Our family cars were prior mostly big MoPars or Fords Galaxies/Fairlanes,
or his Trucks/Fords, he had a cool 53 F100 & a 57 Del Rio 2 dr Ranch Wagon
both with a built FE/352 w/428 heads & carbs, headers, hotter cams, cheater slick,
nice polished slots & wider Uniroyal or PorTrac white lettered tires usually
all were his daily drivers...

I'm not 100% sure what the weight breaks was, on all of them Pontiac racecars
but they all had all the seats outs, left the carpet in, still had door cards,
all with uncapped headers, w/like 12" extensions
all IIRC had a 4 pt rollbar/he built, 1 stock bucket seat & lap belts ,
starting in like 1965-ish

I was 8 y/o when he married my mom, that August in 67'
he raced a bunch on the 'west coast', most of the 27-28 tracks in Calif., at 1 time
lots of which in the south/LA area, OCRW (Orange Co.), OIRW (Ontario),
Lions, Riverside, Long Beach, Palmdale/LACR a few down San Diego way
& up to Bakersfield & like 5 in the Greater Bay Area,
North of the Sac./or the Bay, we had Redding & Oroville, Lodi
I'm forgetting a few
he was a reg. at Fremont & Sacramento, & the 1/8th mile at Vacaville...
All the points races we went to all up & down the west...

I remember in the pits if you went out to the track & a crew member
you had to be wearing white pants, that didn't last to long, always found that strange too...

Wed. Nights IIRC, when I 1st started we had;
Wed. at Sacramento, Thursday at Sears Point, Friday at Fremont,
weather permitting, brackets like 11 months a year, every other week
then test & tunes when not a point races
Saturdays @ Fremont & Sacramento
& another 10-ish (?) in Nv., Or. & Wa. there was another track in Fallon Nv. area
IIRC dad really liked & frequented too...

Anyway walk down memory lane...